New Ideas to Change Junior High English Lessons

Speaker: Koichi Kawamura

Date: Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Time: 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Location: Kitakyushu, Fukuoka

Venue: Kitakyushu International Conference Center (a 5-minute walk from the Kokura train station for shinkansen, JR train)

Description: Since most public junior high schools teach no more than three English lessons per week, it has been really difficult for junior high teachers to teach effectively. Students easily forget what they learn before the next class. Having struggled as one of those teachers, Kawamura has come up with a lot of ideas to help them concentrate and learn from their limited number of lessons. In this presentation he will share some of the ideas he has developed to change an uninteresting classroom into a lively stadium of fun, interest and motivation: super bullet input, self-evaluation, English salon, chain letter etc. Participants will be asked to take active part in his workshop pretending to be mid-teens. You will take home lots of new ideas to use in your own classrooms.

Koichi Kawamura, a graduate of Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, has been teaching at various junior high schools in Saitama for over twenty years, during which he has made great efforts to motivate his students, especially those who had already given up hope of becoming good at English. He has also been the leader of a private group of English teachers in the Saitama area called "Kyokason-juku" where he shares his teaching ideas and tips with young teachers who want to brush up their skills. In 2004 Kawamura's ideas were introduced in Japan Laim's DVD program Masters in English Teaching. This will be his first appearance in Kitakyushu although he has given dozens of workshops for English teachers all over Japan.

PS: Following the meeting, the Kitakyushu JALT chapter will have a book swap. Bring any books you've already read and find them a new home, while finding something new to read yourself. (Be prepared to take home any books that don't get taken...we can't leave them.)

Cost for JALT members: free

Cost for JALT non-members: 1000 yen

Organization: Kitakyushu Chapter, Japan Association for Language Teaching

This URL: http://www.eltcalendar.com/events/details/3878

Contact Kitakyushu JALT Chapter:

URL: http://jalt.org/chapters/kq/

Dennis Woolbright:

woolbright@seinan-jo.ac.jp

Upcoming Events for Kitakyushu JALT Chapter:

Saturday, December 13th, 2008

Year End/Christmas Party

Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM